Hexed
by KaleidoscopeColors
Summary: AU. "I'm a what?" She asked him in a disbelieving tone. Natsume rolled his eyes, here we go again, "A witch," He answered. The girl looked two seconds away from having a laughing fit. The young boy sighed, he really hated his job. Hexed, a story of witches and warlocks, magic and broomsticks, potions and spells. Oh and of course, romance and hijinks!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

 _Beep_

 _Beep_

 _Beep_

A hand slams against the digital alarm clock followed by a low groan. A young girl buries her face in her covers and tucks her arm under the pillow while a black cat with midnight blue eyes stretches next to her and yawns widely. The cat blinks at the pile of brown hair sprawled over the pillow it slept on. Following the trail to a young girl's sleeping face, the feline rolls towards the owner to lick her face.

The girl with the long brown hair laughs and strokes the cat's head affectionately as she hears a voice in her head,

 _Its 6 o'clock, you're going to be late._

Mikan sighs and gets up stiffly, stretching her muscles as she makes her way to the kitchen. The kitchen was a tiny space with a single shelf and two small mahogany cabinets atop it; Mikan takes out a large bowl from one and grabs a carton of milk from the tiny fridge at the corner of the shelf.

She makes her cereal slowly while planning the day ahead of her. Sitting down to eat, she hears the same voice in her head again,

 _Pass the milk please._

Mikan looks down to see her black cat pointing at its empty bowl with a paw.

"Ack! Sorry Nobara," the brunette pours milk into the red bowl and grabs the cat nip from the kitchen drawer, emptying its contents in a separate bowl and placing it next to the black cat.

"What's happening?" a male voice asks curiously.

"The same thing," responds a deep husky voice.

"She's eating breakfast with the cat?" the voice asks again.

"This is so stupid," comes the reply, the boy watching from the window jumps down to the tree branch where another boy waits, "such a waste of time," he says sitting on the thick branch.

The other boy sighs, "well we can't go back without her," he leans back on the tree.

"She seems so normal; I still think we have the wrong girl."

The boy with deep blue eyes shakes his head lightly, "It's her, we've confirmed twice now," he gazes towards the window where a figure shuffles, mostly likely the girl changing her clothes. Heat travels up to Ruka's cheeks at that thought.

A moment later the front door to the small cottage house opens and Mikan comes running out clad in a plain white long sleeved shirt and jean shorts with a leather bag on one shoulder, her cat leaping behind, Mikan locks the door and makes a run for what Ruka assumes must be the Bakery she works at.

The boy next to Ruka sighs as he jumps down from the tree getting ready to tail the far too happy teen girl he's been following for a week. Ruka jumps after him, landing quietly on his heels, "if it gets too bad, I'll just possess the cat," he tells his companion.

 _~;~_

The kitchen was where Mikan could truly breathe, nothing comforted her as much as the smell of freshly baked bread or an extra layer of butter cream on a cooled vanilla cake. The bakery's kitchen was her safe haven, where for just a moment while her hands knead dough and her brain works double time trying to think up the next one hundred orders she has to complete, Mikan can forget all of her life's worries.

Here, where the thick buttery fumes of the oven dominates her olfactory sense, she can forget that unlike other 16 year old kids it isn't school she wakes up to go to every morning or that unlike many kids her age it'll be an empty home she'll come back to.

It wasn't that Mikan was ungrateful; she knew she was luckier than most people were in her circumstances; she had a roof over head, a job that paid well and assured that she never went hungry. Most of all, she had a constant companion who followed her wherever she went.

Still, she couldn't help that raw desire that slept deep within her, one that she nursed on long winter nights after waking from a nightmare with no hand to hold and no voice to reassure her. She wished for a human connection, someone she could call family and love unconditionally. Some days the desire burned so hard Mikan felt physical pain from it, it led her to wonder if it was possible to die from loneliness.

The wide eyed girl shakes her head to dispel her depressing thoughts, it wasn't like her to mull over the tragedies in her life, she was someone who finds the bright side to every situation, and that included her unorganized and haphazard life.

Mikan looks down at the birthday cake she was meant to be decorating, she had done a fine job with the butter cream roses on the side and her candy mold of a castle in the middle had turned out quite well. She smiles at her creation looking it over for any mistakes she might have made while daydreaming, then moves to pack the cake in a big white paper box. It was when she was starting to tie the ribbon over the box that she froze for a moment. Blinking to clear her mind she unwraps the box and looks at the writing. There, in purple frosting where an elegant _Happy Birthday_ message was supposed to be, lay some sort of gibberish scrawl. Mikan recognizes her own handwriting but for the life of her she can't remember writing that. She peers closely to read the words,

 _ **Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu**_

Tiny quivers run down Mikan's arms. This was the fourth time now that she wrote these words unconsciously. The first time it happened she thought it was a simple mistake, the second time she ignored it too, but the incident only repeated itself, twice more now. She didn't know why but she knew these words, she didn't know how, or from where, but she felt it deep in her that these words were important to her, etched as deeply as her existence.

 _What's wrong?_

Nobara's voice in her head brings Mikan back from her reverie. Mikan smiles at her, "nothing," she replies and encloses the cake in the box, spooked by the incident and not keen on sharing it with anyone. She looks at the clock; there might be just enough time to bake another cake without having to stay overtime.

To distract her, Mikan hums and busies her mind with chores as she works on a new cake, her polka dotted uniform apron catching the wind from the open window and billowing around her. Nobara watches her quietly and hands ingredients upon Mikan's requests but otherwise stays out of the wide-eyed girl's way and occupies herself by licking butter cream icing out of empty bowls.

If there was something Mikan had perfected, it was the art of distraction. She had started it young when no one could answer her questions about her parents, and then worked on it when every friend she tried to make would walk out of her life, but she had perfected the art two years ago when she lost her grandfather, the only living relative she had. Life hadn't exactly been easy for her and she still feared what was in store for her.

Still, she smiled through her hardships with the hope that if she worked hard enough she would find her happiness someday.

At sun down, Mikan finally finishes the cakes she was assigned along with the breakfast bread for the following morning. Walking to the locker room with Nobara trailing behind her, Mikan pulls the polka dotted bandana from her head, and looks around the locker room to make sure she's alone before stripping out of her uniform which consisted of a short sleeved white mini dress and red polka-dotted apron that matched the bandana she wore. After pulling on her plain shirt and shorts from this morning, Mikan walks out into the cool night air and inhales deeply. Tokyo had entered the last few weeks of summer and Mikan could almost taste the spice of autumn in the wind.

As she's undoing her braid, the feeling that she was being watched suddenly overcomes Mikan and she turns around sharply, scanning the area around her. At 8pm in the evening the city was bustling with activity, its night life only starting now. Mikan shakes her head lightly as a group of girls in what looked like clubbing attire pass by, she was being paranoid. Perhaps the weird incident from this afternoon had made a bigger impact on her than she initially thought.

She swiftly makes her way back home, the cake she messed up on in one hand and the other undoing the rest of her long braid.

And from the surrounding trees, hidden deep within the foliage, a deep set of crimson eyes narrow as they watch the young girl walk away, her long brown hair dancing behind her.

Mikan lets out a deep sigh as her body falls on her grandfather's rocking chair, "I'm so tired," pulling her knees in to her, she morphs into a ball as she rocks the chair back and forth with her body.

 _Good work today_ , Nobara says in her head and leaps on to the kitchen counter, opening the white box with the ruined cake inside. Mikan looks over at her, watching as the cat takes out the vanilla cake and freezes.

Mikan's eyebrows furrow together, "What's wrong?" she asks her worriedly.

Nobara looks up at her with wide blue eyes.

 _What is this?_ She asks pointing to the cake.

Mikan follows the cat's black paw and smiles, running a hand to the back of her head nervously, "Oh I was daydreaming and messed up on that," she tries to say casually trying not to show how much the words affect her for reasons unknown.

Nobara looks deep into the girl's eyes and something in her gaze makes Mikan feel very young. There was ancient wisdom in those feline eyes, and the young girl couldn't help but wonder what secrets lay behind those midnight blue hues.

Mikan looks away first and grabs a knife to cut the cake, she feels Nobara's eyes on her as she cuts her a piece, "I don't know what it is, it happened a few times before. I think it might something in my subconscious."

 _Like a repressed memory?_ Nobara licks the cream off the cake but watches Mikan through her peripheral vision.

"Maybe…but I have no idea what I would be repressing," Mikan says, taking a bite of the cake; the light vanilla whip cream went well with the pineapple chunks she layered into the cake.

Neither of them says anything on the cake subject again and Mikan finishes the rest of her dessert in a daze. After cleaning up, she makes her way to the small bedroom at the corner of the house. Mikan quickly changes into an oversized T shirt and exhausted from the day, falls on her bed, blowing out the candle stick next to her alarm by the bed.

Usually she was too tired from the long day and fell asleep right when she reached her bed, but today her mind was occupied and she lay in bed thinking over the strange occurrences of the day. She didn't like the idea that her mind had repressed something and that she was subconsciously adhering to it.

"Nobara, you awake?"

The black cat resting near Mikan's tired form drew close and nuzzled her head on Mikan's cheek with a light meow.

Mikan smiled into Nobara's fur, hugging the cat as she fell into bizarre dreams of cauldrons with green substance leaking out and broom sticks flying in the sky and the same foreign language writing the same sentence across her dream: Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu.

 _~;~_

Mikan sighs against the cold metal of her locker, resting her forehead on it as she waits for her head to stop spinning. She woke up this morning with a raging migraine and it was getting worse as the morning drew on. The young baker quickly puts on her uniform, setting her hair into a high ponytail atop her head, ignoring the bandana today. She closes the locker door and hears a deep masculine voice call her, "Mikan!"

She turns to see a middle aged man dressed in a long white dress coat. He was smiling at her, his short blonde hair covered with a bandana identical to the one she just put away.

"Come on, there's something I have to show you," Takeru says cheerily steering her towards the kitchen. Mikan follows him past her work station and a few others to where his was located. Takeru was the head baker in charge of the dinner gourmet, Mikan held a certain fondness for the jolly man who had helped her get hired, "You look like you're in a good mood," she smiles despite her headache as the smell of gingerbread cookies settles around her.

"Yeah, that's because…" He drawls as they reach his work station and he moves away from Mikan to elaborately gesture at a large pit of fire with a giant cooking stove over it, "I finally got that 64 inch cooking pot to make my fresh whipped cream in!" Mikan laughs and joins in his excitement commenting about how his large cooking pot completes the whole kitchen until a flash of searing pain across her forehead numbs her limbs and she falls to her knees, her head in her hands.

She hears Takeru's voice from above but her vision blurs and when she looks back at his kitchen, the large cooking pot transforms into a cauldron and the room falls back as the same five words repeats themselves,

Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu.

Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu.

Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu.

Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu.

Et Non Nocere, Quod Tu.

Mikan screams against the loud voice in her head and falls unconscious on to the cold hard kitchen floor.

" _What's wrong?" The man asks patting the little girl's head, her brown locks flying as she looks up at him with large hazel eyes. They're in a meadow sitting on lush green grass as flowers of all colors grow around them with the sweet smell of oak and honey wafting in the field._

 _Golden sunshine spills on the man's identical hazel eyes as he takes the little girl in._

 _She looks down at their clasped hands, furrowing her eyebrows as she tries to remember what exactly is wrong, "I don't know," she tries to remember what was bothering her, "but it was really sad."_

 _The man smiles at her, and leans down to kiss her forehead gently. The girl grins happily up at him, the bright sun blinding her from looking the man in the eye._

 _The wind carries a familiar feminine voice coated in forgotten memories. She looks around for the voice as it calls to her, "Mikan, come have lunch, sweetheart."_

 _The man stands up and Mikan follows, clasping her tiny hand in his large palm. They walk hand in hand towards the voice when suddenly something grabs Mikan's ankle and she falls. The man continues walking as the little girl wails after him, "wait!" she tries to break hold of the vines wrapped around her leg. She blinks back tears as the green snakelike plants continue wrapping her leg, imprisoning her in place._

 _She looks back at the retreating figure of the man and cries "Wait! Please!" Her eyes blur from tears as the figure and voice fade away from her vision, taking the colorful meadow with them._

Mikan wakes up to the smell of bitter medicine and fresh herbs. As she opens her eyes to scan the empty space around her, something prickles her body. She feels a bristling sense of loss. But for what? What had she been dreaming of?

In the aftermath of her welled up emotions the cold assurance of being alone settles in her core, making her shiver in the warm room. Mikan draws her body in to the covers, trying to roll into a ball and keep herself from falling apart.

 _Are you awake?_

At Nobara's voice, Mikan looks up to see a black cat leap on to her lap. Relief washes over Mikan as she hugs Nobara to her. _That's right. I have Nobara._

She caresses her black cat's head, "How long have I been sleeping?" she asks in a voice thick from sleep.

 _A few hours, Takeru brought you to his house when you fainted. Why didn't you tell me you were sick_? Nobara accuses.

"Sorry, I didn't think it was serious." Mikan blinks a few times as her eyes adjust to the mid day sun, she looks around the room, getting up from her bed and scanning the area. There was a large window a few steps away from her with a wooden book shelf next to it in the corner of the wall; on her left she spies a dusty vanity and a small coffee table with a wooden chair.

Mikan rubs her eyes, feeling moisture on her hands. She blinks rapidly to clear her eyes, she had been crying in her sleep. She sighs; bizarre happenings seem to be the tale of her life currently.

Takeru had brought Mikan to his lodge, understanding her circumstances he didn't take her to a hospital, thankfully. She sees a note from him by the bed that tells her he's at the bakery and that she asked the manager to let her take the day off so she can rest.

But thanks to her fainting incident, she had been given more than enough rest, and taking a whole day off wasn't something she could currently afford. Mikan puts the note back on the table and walks to the front door, locking it from the inside; she makes her way back to the bakery while redoing her loosened pony tail with Nobara walking next to her.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance I caused," Mikan bends at the waist, bowing 90 degrees.

The young man with a balding head regards her in an uninterested manner, "Takeru already informed us you're taking a day off. You can go home."

Mikan closes her eyes and continues to bow, "No, I'm sorry, please let me do my lunch shift at least."

The man dismisses her with a wave, "Ok, but I'll be taking a cut from today's pay."

"Thank you very much," she continues to bow until he walks away then lets out a relived breath and makes her way to the counter to receive the waiting customers.

 _~;~_

"A French Baguette please," an old woman crouched low in front of the counter tells Mikan.

"Of course," the bright eyed girl smiles as she writes down the order, "it'll just be a moment," she says handing the paper to Nobara to stick on the check spindle for the kitchen staff.

Mikan's headache had come back three folds more painful. The brown haired takes a shaky breath to steady her, holding her head lightly by one hand. It hadn't been a whole hour since the pain was gone that it come right back with a vengeance, catching her off guard. She didn't know what was causing it, she had ample amount of sleep and she had just eaten lunch. Mikan held on to the counter and waited for the room to stop spinning. Just a few more hours, she tells herself, and then I'll go home.

She looks up to receive the next customer and locks eyes with a young man. Her headache momentarily forgotten Mikan stares at the beautiful stranger. He looked to be no older than her, and calling him beautiful would probably offend any other boy, but the only word Mikan could think to justify this boy's perfect features was beautiful.

Realizing she was gawking, Mikan blinks to break eye contact. Clearing her throat and ignoring the blush that was blooming on her face, she asks the stranger, "What can I get for you?" as pleasantly as she can.

The boy in turn didn't seem to notice her reaction to him, most probably someone already used to this type of behavior from females. But despite his disinterested face the boy leans forward on the counter, in a scandalizing manner, he says in a husky gruff voice that sends shivers down Mikan's spine, "A red velvet cupcake and a dinner date."

Somewhere on the roof of the bakery, the boy's companion, another young man with burning sapphire eyes slaps his forehead at his best friend's terrible ruse of charming a girl.

The blushing brunette gapes. She doesn't think she heard right. "I-I'll get you that cupcake," she says writing it down.

"Great. And I'll come by at 7." He says coolly and makes his way to the cashier to pick up his order and pay.

Mikan stares after him, dumbfounded. _What just happened?_

"Mikan," she turns towards the voice, a girl with chocolate brown eyes comes around to the counter, "It's time to change shifts," she informs her.

Mikan blinks, "Oh right, thanks." She grabs her apron from the hanger and walks toward the kitchen. A few steps away she looks back at the cashier to catch a last glimpse of the bizarre stranger, but when she looks around he's nowhere to be seen. Weird, she could've sworn the line at the cashier was pretty long.

~;~

"I'll pick you up at 7." Ruka mimicks in his gruffest voice, "Are you serious, Natsume?"

"What? You were also getting annoyed lurking in corners and waiting for her to cast a spell." Natsume answers unabashedly, taking a bite of his cupcake.

"I said I would possess the cat, not for you to go woo the girl. How is taking her on a date going to solve anything anyway?" Ruka looks at the single cupcake in Natsume's hand, "Hey. Where's mine?"

"You didn't ask for one," he answers munching on the last few bites, "And I'm setting up a trap for her so she uses her powers, obviously." Natsume gives him a quelling look; did he really think he was going to take the girl to dinner?

"And what if it doesn't work and she still doesn't use her powers?"

"Well then you'll swoop in and save her, and I'll go back to the academy and tell them she's useless." Natsume explained slowly.

Ruka rolls his eyes at this evidently stupid plan that was bound to go wrong until something occurred to him, "wait, why do I have to save her?"

"Because, I already asked her to dinner."

 _ **A/N: Hi guys! Soooo I've kind of been on this thing where I've been reading and watching about witches and magic a lot. But then my fixation kind of boiled over and I ran out of ways to nurse my obsession so I thought, hey, why not make this more productive and write about it instead? So here I am and I'm super excited to be writing this. I have a lot of ideas for this fanfic (considering all the source materials I've gone through, LOL) but let me know what you guys think? The first chapter is always the hardest to write (I suck so much at character introductions and introducing a plot) so I'm mostly just glad its over.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

Mikan looks at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, the sound of water running from the faucet filling the empty, still room. She leans forward, her hands resting on the sink to support her weight as she looks at her reflection, the strange incident from the afternoon flashing in her head.

" _I'll come by at 7."_

The girl blinks, her long eyelashes sweeping over large hazel eyes. Was the boy serious? She glances at her wrist watch, she had half an hour till his promised time.

This was stupid. She hadn't promised the stranger anything, why was she obliged to listen to his request?

 _Maybe I'm getting played_ , she thinks as she splashes cold water on her face. It wasn't that being asked out came as a surprise, being an attractive and friendly young girl, Mikan had acquired her fair share of admirers, but she always kept them at a distance, never having to deal with such a bizarre situation. She always turned down dates and shot down any advances from her male coworkers because a relationship wasn't something Mikan could so much as think of much less commit to. Her heart still hadn't healed from wounds given by the family who left her; she couldn't put herself through something as vulnerable as a relationship with a boy who could walk out of her life in a heartbeat.

So it was perfectly ok, she tried to reason with herself, that she had ditched the stranger and left work early to avoid him. She never promised to be there and if he had waited to hear her reply she would have told him so. She grimaced, thinking of the boy's burning red eyes, it wasn't that she hadn't said no to his preposterous request, it was that she couldn't. She smiled wryly, shaking her head as she remembered her reaction to the dazzling young man; it was most probably her headache that got to her.

Speaking of her headache, her brain felt like it would ooze out of her skull at the way it was melting against the migraine. Mikan wiped her wet face with a soft white towel, her lips set in a grim line, she walked to the kitchen with sheer willpower. Popping a pill in her mouth, Mikan practically crawled to her sofa, too exhausted and pained to walk to her bed, she fell into nightmares before her head hit the leather couch.

Ruka really shouldn't be laughing so hard. He knew this was a problem and it would complicate their mission further but try as he might he couldn't smother the laughter building in his throat, his friend's livid expression wasn't helping it either.

"Will you shut up already," Natsume hissed at the amused boy.

Ruka bit his lip, his eyes dancing with mirth as he said with controlled hilarity, "She stood you up." Another bout of cackles followed this statement and Natsume idly wondered if Ruka would still be laughing if his golden locks were burning.

As his laughter dissolved to quiet chuckles, Ruka spoke up, "Come on, you have to admit this is a little funny…you actually got rejected by a girl," he snickered unrepentantly.

"It wasn't even a real date," the raven haired boy muttered glaring daggers at Mikan's front door. After waiting a whole hour for the infuriating girl at the Bakery, Natsume and Ruka had tracked her back to her house to find her peacefully sleeping on the couch, without a care in the world. The sight almost had him burning the whole house down.

"Real or not, you finally tasted rejection. Wait till Hotaru hears about this," His irritating companion declared, laughter still evident in his voice.

A vein in Natsume's forehead popped at the mention of the stoic witch. "This is stupid." He huffed. "Let's just go back, there's nothing else we can do here." He turned to go.

Ruka stepped in front of him, "and abandon the mission?" he questioned in amusement.

Natsume clenched his jaw, "The girl isn't a witch. She's the most mundane human I've ever seen. Come on Ruka, you've been watching her…she's so _normal_."

Ruka rolled his eyes, "We all start out like that. Until we learn about our powers we lead human lives," he explained.

Unlike Ruka, Natsume had never lived a human life, he was a warlock at birth and gifted with magic the moment he took his first breath. Never having had to activate his powers, Natsume didn't quite understand the ascension from mortal to Wiccan life. But he still held firm to his opinion, "Look, even if she was a witch—though I highly doubt she is—but with her IQ level she'll have lived multiple lifetimes before finding out."

"Well then we'll have to wait multiple lifetimes for her because we can't go back without her," Ruka replied.

Natsume shut his eyes and tried to quell his temper, Ruka could be such a prick sometimes, "Fine then. Let's kidnap her."

"Oh great idea," came the dry response as Ruka stepped away from the boy and gestured to the front door, "after you."

Natsume gave him an aggravated look and made to retort when a scream pierced his ears. His head whipped to the old wooden cottage in front of him as another scream broke into the night.

He met Ruka's worried gaze and together they ran to the wooden door leading to Mikan's house, he broke it open and sprinted inside, Ruka following close behind him.

He moved swiftly to the living area where he knew the girl was sleeping but when he got to the narrow dark space, he found it empty. He looked around the tiny room, searching for auburn hair or a flash of hazel eyes.

"She's not here," Ruka whispered softly.

Natsume turned to check the rest of the house when he heard a low shriek. Coming from above him.

Mikan gasped for air, her lungs burning against the strain. _I should have ran outside_ , she thought running up the stairs to the roof of her cottage. She would be cornered in seconds up here. Leaping from the last stair, she runs out to the open rooftop, a light wind blowing her hair. It was a full moon tonight, low and bright but hidden behind thick gray clouds, it gave the night an eerie glow. The young girl turns to lock the door leading to the rooftop but before she can catch hold of the rusted metal handle, it blows open, the heavy metal door breaking from the hinges and flying to the edge of the roof with her. Mikan screams, grasping air as she slips off the edge. A hand shoots out just in time before she falls off the roof it catches her wrist as she starts to dangle off the side of her cottage. Her eyes wide with terror, she looks up to meet deep blue irises.

Her savior pulls her up just as her attacker knocks into him, sending him flying off the roof, she hears a low voice yell, "Ruka!" before her attacker grabs her by the elbow and hauls her off the floor. She looks up at the blackened face of her co-worker, Takeru and whimpers like a cornered rat. Takeru's eyes were glazed over, only the whites of his eyes visible, his friendly face darkened by what seemed like smoke. Takeru's lips pulled into a ferocious snarl as he smashes her body against the side wall, making her head crack against the tough cement and stars burst behind her eyelids. Mikan looks wearily at her attacker, her head limp against her body. Long claws reach towards her forehead, her eyes widening with horror, Mikan screeches at the top of her lungs moving her arms up protectively in front of her face just as a black shadow materializes in front of her, shielding her from the assailant. She looks up at the dark figure, peeking at from behind her arms; she catches the silhouette of a tall boy barely visible under the light of the hidden moon, his long black coat billows around him as he brings up his right arm. She watches as he opens his palm, directing it towards her attacker and softly whispers in the wind, _"Inferno."_

A hot white light shoots out of her protector's open palm towards Takeru. She hears a screech as bright orange flames consume him and Takeru falls to the ground burning and dissolving into black dust.

Her knees buckling, Mikan falls to the ground with her back sliding against the rooftop wall. Taking deep breaths, she slowly looks up at the black shadow that shielded her at the same time as the moon slips out from behind the clouds and showers her protector in silver light. She gasps when the young boy turns towards her, bright red eyes softened in the moonlight. He regards her impassively looking her over with as much interest as someone would look at a pile of filth stacked in a corner.

Mikan opens her mouth to say something when movement in her peripheral vision causes her to turn her head to the side. The girl watches mutely as the blue eyed boy from earlier jumps up on to the rooftop landing lightly on the balls of his feet, he sighs quietly as he runs a hand through his blonde hair. His expression was irritated; it made his delicate features stand out in the soft glow of the moon.

"Ruka." The low husky voice of her dark haired protector brings her back; she turns back to him, blinking to clear her mind against the haze, who were these beautiful strangers?

"That was a strong one; it must've been feeding for a while now." Ruka says rolling his arm around a few times and then clutching his shoulder when pain shoots through it.

Natsume walks towards him and takes his shoulder in one hand. Mikan sees him murmur something before a yellow glow comes out of his other hand. He lightly moves it over Ruka's shoulder, inches above his skin. After a few seconds, he lets go of the boy and watches him roll his shoulder experimentally, Ruka smiles his gratitude when the pain numbs.

Mikan squeaks as she tries to get off the floor, catching the attention of the two young men. Ruka walks towards her and crouches down to her eye level, Mikan stifles a gasp as she looks into burning sapphire.

"Are you alright?" he asks her softly, his eyes filled with worry.

Mikan stares back stupidly. The other boy comes up to stand behind Ruka and shoots her an annoyed look, "She's gone mute, it might have broken her brain." She hears him mutter something like, "not that there was much of it to begin with."

That snaps her out of her daze and she glowers up at him, "Me and my brain are completely fine, thanks for the concern," she tries to mimic his annoyed look back at him.

Ruka smiles at her, softening her expression, "your temper is still in check, that's good," he looks her over, "can you stand? I know you're injured."

Mikan nods quietly at him, too star struck to do much else. He looked like a prince out of Mikan's fairytale books.

The boy offers her his hand and Mikan graciously accepts, slowly getting up. She looks over at the pile of grainy dust, the smell of burning smoke still in the air. Ruka follows her gaze and grimaces slightly, "he's been hanging around you for awhile and completely blindsided us."

"W-what was it?" Mikan asks not looking away from the black dust, it was hard to imagine Takeru's friendly face while staring at it.

"Djinn, they're weak creatures. Feed on power to fuel themselves." It was the other boy that answered looking at the pile of smoke and dust with revulsion. He looked back at Mikan, "he was feeding on your power, didn't you notice anything?"

Mikan gave him a puzzled look. Power? Feeding? "What are you talking about? Are you saying that thing really was Takeru?"

Ruka intervened before his friend could say anything else, "We'll explain everything but first you have to come with us, you and your familiar."

"Familiar?" Mikan asks confusion coloring her tone.

"The cat." The red eyed boy responds, his face impassive and annoyed as ever.

Blood drains from Mikan's face, "Nobara," she whispers in panic and rushes to the staircase, running back down to the living room. She could feel Ruka and Natsume hot on her heels as she entered the tiny living space she ran from earlier.

Looking around wildly, she discovers the black cat crouched near the sofa exactly where she left her when she ran away from Takeru.

With shaking knees, Mikan squats down in front of her cat and reaches out to touch the injured feline but the raven haired boy besides her grabs her wrist just before it can make contact with Nobara's soft fur. He yanks her hand away from Nobara and sends her a quelling look. Mikan looks back at him in anger tugging harshly at her wrist. He frees it but stands in front of the cat, shielding it from Mikan.

"She's been put under a barrier spell." Ruka says in surprise, making Mikan cut off her glare at Natsume and turn towards her cat. Tears build at the corner of her eyes when she takes in Ruka's worried face and Nobara's still body, "No." She whispers brokenly into the dark room.

Nobara had protected her from the assailant. She'd jumped up and shielded her from his attack when Mikan was numb from shock.

"It's my fault," she says wretchedly, trying to step around Natsume's tall frame.

But the raven haired boy simply held her in place with a single finger to her forehead. It sent a lightening fire through her skull and she felt stars explode for the second time that night. She sends him a tantalizing look, her hands holding her skull. The infuriating boy just stares back unrepentantly and turns towards Ruka who was bending down towards Nobara now.

Ruka closes his eyes and raises his hand, palm open towards the black cat as he chants something lowly moving his hand over the feline's body, inches away from making contact. A few heartbeats pass as Mikan stares at Nobara powerlessly, Natsume still blocking her from reaching out to her.

Ruka's eyes open, "it's strong," he says in dismay looking at Natsume, "the Djinn used a lightening zap to knock her out; we need to get her to Jinno-sensei."

Natsume nods, sends Mikan a condescending look to stay where she was and walks over to Nobara. Mikan watches him lowly whispers something just as an orange radiance wraps around Nobara and a fragile bubble engulfs her.

Ruka turns to Mikan, "she's badly injured and under a spell. It's too complicated for us to handle."

Nobara floats in the bubble, staying half a foot away from Natsume's head as he moves to leave.

"Wait!" Mikan says, her hands stretching out in front of her as if to pause time. She looks up at the two strangers, "spells? Djinns? Nothing you say is making any sense." Tears start to spill, she ignores them and turns towards the raven haired boy, "Give me back my cat," she chokes and reaches out for her.

Natsume simply continues to walk towards the door with her cat. Her temper at its limit Mikan gets ready to attack him when Ruka touches her elbow, "I'm sorry Mikan, I know it all seems confusing right now. But trust us. We're not here to harm you." His eyes shine with promise and Mikan has to look away to collect her thoughts, why did these boys have to be so good-looking?

Natsume regards her like she has the intelligence of a pineapple, "if you touch the cat you'll fall into the same coma she's in."

She gapes at him and he rolls his eyes, "although that would make this far easier. And less annoying."

Ruka shoots him a warning look making the red eyed boy shrug and walk out the door, her cat floating behind him. The blonde boy sighs and turns back to Mikan, "Will you come with us to Gakuen Alice? I promise you'll find all your answers there."

Mikan swallows. No, she wanted to say. She didn't trust either of these boys and their beautiful faces. But Nobara was unconscious and they claimed they could cure her. It really wasn't much of a choice for her; Nobara was all she had left. Even if the strangers had asked her to follow them to hell to cure her cat, she would have done it.

Mikan nods slowly and turns to follow the boy with bright blue eyes out of her home and into the unknown with just a single backward glance at the house that stored memories of a lifetime she would soon leave behind.

 **A/N: So this chapter is more on the shorter side but I thought that was a good place to stop. That and I'm getting a hand cramp. I was mildly worried that this fandom would have died with the ending of the manga but I'm glad that's not the case! Especially since I haven't had my fill of Natsume and Mikan just yet. And I'm about to start babbling like this is my blog post so I'll just stop there. Review anyone?**


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